Record Collector Out Today

Original Story by Aaron J Sams (2024-10-31)

Today Record Collector magazine releases issue 564, the December 2024 issue in the UK. The issue features a number of pieces about U2, far beyond what we share here in this article. The interviews are current, and look at How to Dismantle an Atomic Bomb but also look forward to the future of U2.

If you are interested in the issue, it features U2 on the cover and should be hitting newsstands today in the UK, and soon outside of the UK. Record Collector has now opened orders for the issue on their website, and will ship to international customers.

One of the pieces is a written piece by Bono talking about the Atomic Bomb albums, as it is two now with Dismantle and Re-Assemble. He talks about recording the albums, he talks about the development of songs, where the band was, and more. He also gives a bit of an update on what comes next:

Bono: “I think of “City of Blinding Lights” as the first song of innocence…with the exception of No Line on the Horizon that period continued for 20 years – Songs of Innocence, Songs of Experience, they’re all retrospective. It has stopped, you’ll be pleased to hear…You’ll never have to listen to me raging and whinging about my mother or father ever again…Tho’ I do have this opera coming out, haha!”

The opera he refers to is his solo show Stories of Surrender and we are told the home version of that production will be appearing somewhat soon, but as yet, has not had a confirmed release date.

The article focuses on old songs, as well as new, with detailed notes on both “Vertigo” and “Luckiest Man in the World”.

Bono: “Edge has likened Re-Assemble to a throwdown, in terms of where U2 might go next…Fresh paint…you have to be fit to play first touch football…I want to hear the sound of our band in a room…to feel a performance get away from us and be better for that…I experienced it last month with Larry, Adam and Edge, and I want more.”

The notes he shares above echo what Adam Clayton and The Edge shared in an interview with Zane Lowe earlier this month when the song “Happiness” was shared online. In that interview Adam shared, “If all the world is a loop, I think we’ve kind of got to the point where we’ve pushed things as far as we can in terms of adding extra things into the band. Now we kind of want to go back, and kind of take the layers off, and get down to what the band does really well. Which is to play live in a room. There’s a freshness to that now, and i don’t know if there’s many bands that can still make records that way. That’s what we want to explore.” And the Edge shared, “Music made in real time in a room with musicians interacting with one other – it just has a narrative, a sonic narrative, which you just cannot create using a different approach — using layering, drum loops or whatever — I love that as well. Don’t get me wrong I’m not a purist in any sense. I feel that the culture shifts and morphs based on what feels fresh, what’s been overplayed, what’s been underplayed. I do feel music that’s been made in real-time has been underserved. It’s starting to feel really fresh again.” and Edge finished with “We’re in a good place to make an album like that, because that’s what we started out doing.”

Bono in Record Collector finishes with a discussion about How to Re-Assemble An Atomic Bomb sharing, “It won’t inform all our music but right now we’re all about the moment. And if you want to live in the moment you have to be ready for it…fit for it. There’s no hiding, it’s very demanding…I would say Edge, Adam, Larry and I are in violent agreement on this, and we rarely agree on anything.”

The issue of Record Collector also features an interview with Adam Clayton, conducted on September 25, 2024. The interview talks about U2’s history, growing up into the band they are today, the experience of playing at Sphere and more. Adam is also asked about where the band are now, and what he sees for the future:

Where are U2 currently? How far ahead is your diary booked?

Adam: Our diary is always completely overbooked. Whether or not we turn up for the dates in the diary is another thing. We realise that we’re at a critical phase in our career. Very often at this point in a band’s life, they see that the end is in sight. We’re not getting any closer to the culture. We’re not getting any more relevant, so our songwriting is less important. What you really acquire after being a band for a long time is an audience, and that audience represents a field, as in agriculture. You can go to that audience maybe every three years, or whatever, and you can present yourselves differently to them. But then you have to leave them alone. You have to leave a little bit of space.

And the future…

Forty-eight years on, are you as excited about the future of U2 as you were on this day in 1976?

Adam: I’m totally excited, and why I’m excited is, back then there were an awful lot of self-important teenagers joining bands and telling people how they were feeling. Now, 48 years later, I think it’s interesting to look at how our generation, and indeed, generations ahead or behind us, have adapted to the world that they’ve experienced. The whole punk ethic was be young, make your own opportunities and defy anything that is elderly, or trying to put restrictions on you. Well having lived that way for 48 years, I now think that we have some wisdom and some knowledge, and some well road tested ideas. I think we now can holistically see that we’re in a world of total chaos which, actually, we might have been back in 1976.

In another piece on the album re-issue The Edge chimes in on the future of the band, “As long as we’re still enjoying it and feeling inspired, as long as we’re surprising ourselves and the fans with work that has vitality and experimentation and creativity. I’ve still got the same drive and ambition and focus to continue. Will we still want to be playing ‘I Will Follow’ and running around the stage doing ‘Vertigo’ at 85? Maybe.”

For the full interview with Adam Clayton, and the full written piece by Bono, the interview with The Edge, as well as a U2 discography, you can find all this and more in the newest issue of Record Collector magazine, hitting the stands today in the UK, and now available to order worldwide, through their website. The new issue features 15 pages of U2 content including three articles, a number of photos and a select discography of items from U2’s career.

U2 continue their roll out of the 20th anniversary edition of How to Dismantle an Atomic Bomb tomorrow with the release of a live video from Chicago for “Sometimes You Can’t Make it on Your Own”. We’re tracking the release via our discography entries on How to Dismantle an Atomic Bomb and How to Re-Assemble an Atomic Bomb.

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